KLM Economy Class Review: A330-200 Montreal to Amsterdam

This review opens the second half of the trip report for my travel from Rome Fiumicino to Quebec City and back. For the first leg of the journey I traveled with Air France transiting via Paris CDG airport and arrived in Quebec City. My return leg flight departed from Montreal meaning I also had to catch a coach from Quebec City to Montreal.

KLM Check-in Experience: Online vs Airport Process

So, this is where I start to have something to say about the whole experience comparing it to what you get with Air France (KLM's sister Airline).

Before online check-in opens you can pay to select your preferred seat. With Air France once check in opens the number of free-of-charge seats increases exponentially. Well, with KLM it didn't. I wanted a window seat to get the photos I need for this website. Forecasting a full flight I wasn't going to take the risk.

Therefore, I forked out 40 Euro for a window seat in the last rows of economy.

Airport checkin was smooth, nothing to report. Having a FlyingBlue status I avoided the, not so long queue, and got my boarding pass. Then made my way through security and airside.

KLM A330-200 Aircraft Overview: What to Expect

So, the A330-200 isn't KLM's most modern aircraft in the fleet. However, over the years, it has been retrofitted with new interiors keeping it up to speed with the rest of the fleet.

On this particular flight the aircraft was 18 years old, registered PH-AOE, featuring a rather outdated KLM 2 class configuration with:

• 18 Business class seats – in a 2-2-2 layout.
• 250 Economy class seats – in a standard 2-4-2 layout

Economy also had, at the very front, so called comfort seats which offered extra leg room. There were 36 of them sold at a premium over standard economy.

One thing that can be noted in this section is that there are no individual air vents on the overhead panels on this plane. Which I know is something many travelers enjoy to have. For me personally it all depends on what temperature the cabin is kept at during the flight. On this Montreal to Amsterdam KLM flight I would have much appreciated the vents, the cabin was kept quite warm.

Seat Review: Legroom, Width and Comfort

The seat, as the whole cabin, was well cleaned when boarding. Seats in economy come in the standard Airbus A330 2-4-2 configuration. As mentioned for this Montreal to Amsterdam KLM flight I selected a window seat, 40A, paying for it to be sure to have it.

Legroom was very good, as it also was on my Paris to Quebec City Air France flight. I am 178cm tall and had a hand width between my knee and the seat in front of me. I could fully extend my legs under the seat in front of me.

On the seat were, packaged in plastic wrap, a:

• Blanket
• Pillow – in a one time use cover of that paper fabric (not very nice to feel)

What was not on the seat were headphones. That meant you couldn't watch or listen to anything while on the ground. They were only handed out after takeoff. What is the sense of that? Also a bottle of water was handed out with the headphones.

The seat recline was good enough to get a bit of sleep, nothing to get too excited about it's economy after all, with an adjustable headrest.

KLM Economy Food Review: Meal Quality and Options

It wasn't as good as Air France's that's for sure. The two options as the cabin crew put:

• Chicken
• Vegetarian Pasta

As an ex cabin crew I find it very sad when you don't even take the time to describe with more than 2 words what you are serving.

However, the pasta were vegetarian filled tortellini, while the chicken was served with a red sauce, carrots string beans, and mashed potatoes.

Also on the tray:

• Sort of a Greek Salad
• Cheesecake
• Loaf of bread
• Cheese

The best thing on the tray was the cheesecake, everything else was ok but not particularly nice. Wooden cutlery was part of the tray, which is extremely uncomfortable to eat with.

After the trays were cleared an additional item was handed out with tea and coffee, a dutch cookie. It wasn't the traditional shape but it tasted much like a speculaas. I used to have these cinnamon flavored cookies when I was a little boy growing up in the Netherlands. That took me back to a place far away in my memory.

Before landing a second meal service came around. It wasn't as nicely presented as Air France's. It consisted of an Egg, tomato and spinach savory pastry with a choice of tea or coffee to accompany it. It tasted nice, but again, nothing great.

In-Flight Entertainment: Movies, TV and WiFi

The offering of the IFE system on KLM was very similar to that of Air France. On KLM there were more international movies as the Dutch are more fluent in English on average than the French are.

I tried to watch “Analyze This” starring Robert De Niro. I said tried because the headphones were something the devil designed. You could barely perceive the conversations, sound was completely crackled and if you put the volume up to hear any better you'd loose your hearing.

So if you want to watch anything other than the view out of the window, make sure to bring a set of cabled good quality headphones.

Wi-Fi was also available on the flight, but you needed to pay for it if you wanted to access it.

KLM Cabin Service: Flight Attendant Experience

First of all cabin crew on KLM are very approachable, smiling and friendly. But there were some things i didn't like all that much.

• As I mentioned above the food description wasn't very good and there were no menus to know what the options were.
• While boarding over the PA we were asked to close the overhead lockers for the cabin crew. Mind you, they were the easy type to close from the top not the harder ones found on Boeing 777s. What is the crew there for?
• Cabin checks for takeoff and landing were not conducted thoroughly. When landing into Amsterdam there were still window shades down (in Europe they need to be open for landing and takeoff) and seats reclined. I tend to notice this a lot as a former flight attendant.

Overall I wasn't all that impressed with the standard of the crew.

KLM Economy Class Pros and Cons Summary

In the span of a few days I had the possibility to compare Air France and KLM (sister airlines) in Economy Class. And I can say I understand why financially Air France is constantly outperforming KLM in recent years. The experience is just nicer on Air France. Yes, it still is economy class with all the things we love to hate about it, but the French carrier puts an effort to make it feel that little more premium than what KLM does.

Pros of flying KLM:

• Friendly crew
• Great network and connections
• Good legroom

Cons of flying KLM:

• Food not great
• Headphones were very bad
• Fees for seats even once online checkin opens

Total Trip Cost Breakdown: Flights, Fees and Extras

Now, I didn't pay this flight cash. I used Flying Blue miles to get to Quebec City and back via Montreal flying Air France and KLM. The total cost of the trip (Rome-Paris-Quebec City-Montreal-Amsterdam-Rome) was 107,000 Flying Blue miles with 266.70 Euro paid in taxes and fees.

On top of that 266 Euro I also paid the 40 euro to select my preferred seat. So, all in all the total cost of the trip was 306 euro and 107,000 miles.